I live in McKinney and bought and planted an 8' potted Shantung Maple late last fall. We bought it from a nursery in Ft Worth. I followed all the instructions by Howard on "how to plant a tree" - including digging hole 3X, exposing roots, scraping sides to loosen and expose roots as well as top, exposing root flare, backfilling with natural dirt/clay along with some compost and filling area with 3+ inches of mulch. It looked great up until the last month. Now the leaves are all dying on it - turning brown and look like they will drop soon. I planted it in full sun and the only thing I can think of as a negative is that it is in a bit of a lower area and with all the recent rains, it may have gotten too much water.The low area runs off well unless we get too much rain and then it may set there for a few hours.

Is it too late to save it? Any ideas? More information needed? HELP!

Shantung's are tough little trees, but I am not sure how resistant they are to waterlogged conditions. A few hours of flooding doesn't sound like enough to kill or defoliate one to me. Howard mentioned recently that shantungs are extremely susceptible to some of the toxic chemical sprays that are commonly used on trees. I don't know which ones, but maybe someone will chime in and help. If you or a neighbor is using something toxic in the area, it's possible your tree was impacted if the overspray drifted onto your tree.

Hi - no chance of chemical overspray - I live on an acre lot and the closest neighbor is 200 yards away and through multiple clumps of huge trees. Of course I'm all organic and the strongest stuff the Shantung has seen is coffee grounds

Correction - I do have a aeribic septic system (1 yr old) and with the wind blowing the right direction, the Shantung Maple could pick up spray from the Septic valve. Could that be it?

as you're witnessing the forum membership and moderation here either don't know or don't care. While there is better participation over at gardenweb forums, I find the advertising there to be annoying. Maybe try calling the dirt Doctor during the show. Good luck.

Yeah - I bought a membership thinking I could get help on problems - the only one who is good at answering questions is dschall in San Antonio - don't see why I'd want to renew